Visitors flock to Maine from around the globe to enjoy our world class seafood, and Maine oysters are no exception. Celebrate this tasty and environmentally critical bivalve with us in Freeport for our second annual celebration of Maine oysters.

There are now more than 150 oyster farms dotting Maine’s 3,500 mile long coastline. Oysters grow slowly in Maine’s cold waters, and that gives them more time to soak up the flavors in their home waters. Differences in the food they eat as well as the temperature and salinity of the water produce a wide variety of flavor characteristics from farm to farm. The Maine Oyster Festival celebrates oysters and the people who farm them from up and down the entire Maine coast!

Schedule of Events:

Friday, June 23, 2023

6:30 am – 8 pm: Stop by Bow Street Market where local oysters, shuckers and accoutrements are available to purchase to enjoy at home! The wine, beer, and spirit department is not to be missed, housing one of Maine’s most varied and expertly curated selections. Of course, Maine products are prominently displayed in all three areas – wine, beer and liquor. bowstreetmarket.com, 79 Bow St.

10 am – 5 pm: Our Working Waterfront at Meetinghouse Arts: a gallery show celebrating our long history with the waterfront industry. Free. 40 Main St.

10 am – 5:30 pm: RD Allen Freeport Jewelers presents their custom-made Oyster Pendants! This solid sterling silver pendant is reversible and features a hidden bail with choice of a white freshwater pearl or a black Akoya pearl. Crafted especially for The Maine Oyster Festival by RD Allen Freeport Jewelers! Chains sold separately. Sale price – $449. rdallen.com, 13 Middle St.

5 pm: Kick Off Party at Freeport Oyster Bar to benefit the Sea Meadow Marine Foundation, Tickets will be available for a donation amount of your choice and will include passed appetizers and oysters. Cash bar. 43 Main St.

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Saturday, June 24, 2023

6:30 am – 8 pm: Stop by Bow Street Market where local oysters, shuckers and accoutrements are available to purchase to enjoy at home! The wine, beer, and spirit department is not to be missed, housing one of Maine’s most varied and expertly curated selections. Of course, Maine products are prominently displayed in all three areas – wine, beer and liquor. bowstreetmarket.com, 79 Bow St.

9:00 am – 1:00 pm: In an effort to suppress the invasive European green crab, we are asking volunteers to help collect them from the intertidal zone of Wolfe’s Neck Center. Participants in this event will learn from industry and culinary professionals the implications these crustaceans have on our aquatic ecosystems and effective management techniques. Following a brief presentation, volunteers will take a wagon ride to the coast, buckets in hand, to collect as many green crabs as possible. Attendees will learn how to repurpose green crabs in tasty culinary treats and in the compost pile. Collected green crabs will either be taken home or added to the Wolfe’s Neck Center compost pile. The attendee who collects the most green crabs will win a night of camping at Wolfe’s Neck Oceanfront Campground! Click here to sign up.

10 am – 6 pm: Meet sea farmers & eat oysters, learn to shuck, shop with the vendors & food trucks, watch or participate in public shucking contest heats, kids can make a craft or two to take home, and find out more about seaworthy organizations. L.L.Bean parking lots & adjacent locations

10 am – 5 pm: Our Working Waterfront at Meetinghouse Arts: a gallery show celebrating our long history with the waterfront industry. Free. 40 Main St.

10 am – 12 pm: Dirty McCurdy. Rockin “4-piece Power Trio” that packs a whole road case full of musical spiked-punch with implements of melodic carnage like Bagpipes, Saxophone, Banjo, Keyboards, Flute, Fiddle, and Blues Harp. FMI: https://dirtymccurdy.com/ Free. L.L.Bean Discovery Park Stage

10 am – 5:30 pm: RD Allen Freeport Jewelers presents their custom-made Oyster Pendants! This solid sterling silver pendant is reversible and features a hidden bail with choice of a white freshwater pearl or a black Akoya pearl. Crafted especially for The Maine Oyster Festival by RD Allen Freeport Jewelers! Chains sold separately. Sale price – $449. rdallen.com, 13 Middle St.

11 am – 7 pm: Join us all weekend at the Lobster Cooker & Upper Deck Sports Pub during The Maine Oyster Festival! We’ll be serving up special menu items including tasty fried oysters and pouring a wide selection of beers in our garden patio! Just steps away from Festival grounds! thelobstercooker.com, 39 Main St.

11 am – 8 pm: Pop across the street from The Maine Oyster Festival to Linda Bean’s Maine Kitchen & Topside Tavern for discounted oysters on the half shell and special menu item Oysters Rockefeller! lindabeansperfectmaine.com, 88 Main St.

11 am – 9 pm: The Tuscan Brick Oven Bistro is offering special menu items all weekend including Brick Oven Oysters Rockefeller and Oyster Risotto! tuscanbrickovenbistro.com, 140 Main St.

1 – 3 pm: Juke Joint Devils. The Juke Joint Devils is an old school Jump and Swing combo whose musical style draws heavily from Chicago, Memphis and New Orleans blues music of the 1950s, as well as the modern West Coast style of today. FMI: follow them on Facebook. Free. L.L.Bean Discovery Park Stage

2 – 4 pm: Oyster Farm Tours with Seacoast Tours of Freeport. All aboard the Pamela B! All trips include oysters and lobster rolls, and beer and wine is available for purchase. Click here for more information, and to book your tickets.

3:30 pm: Oyster of the Year awards ceremony. Emceed by sustainable seafood expert Barton Seaver. L.L.Bean Discovery Park stage.

4 – 6 pm: Schooner Fare presented by Cadenza & Meetinghouse Arts. Schooner Fare has won unanimous critical praise for captivating harmonies and winning stage presence. In addition to their numerous original songs on both contemporary and traditional themes, the band also writes and performs topical songs, country ballads and maritime masterpieces that have made their name synonymous with the “Down East” style. Consummate entertainers, their energetic concerts are laced with a Maine brand of universal humor. Combining their talents on six-string guitars, twelve-string guitars and banjos, Schooner Fare’s distinctive vocal and instrumental arrangements have been hailed by such folk music icons as the Kingston Trio, the Limeliters, the Chad Mitchell Trio, the Clancy Brothers, Tommy Makem and Tom Paxton. FMI: http://outergreen.com/ Free. L.L.Bean Discovery Park Stage

5 – 7 pm: Oyster Farm Tours with Seacoast Tours of Freeport. All aboard the Pamela B! All trips include oysters and lobster rolls, and beer and wine is available for purchase. Click here for more information, and to book your tickets.

6 – 9 pm: After-party event at Maine Beer Company. Just as Maine’s pristine fresh waters make for great beer, Maine’s salt waters make for some of the very best oysters. With thousands of miles of coastline and proud seafood heritage, Maine is at the fore of oyster farming: a sustainable, restorative way of producing delicious food with an unparalleled taste of place. To celebrate our passion for beer and Maine oysters, Maine Beer Company will be hosting an after-party event for the Maine Oyster Festival on Saturday, June 24th from 6-9pm. They will be pouring their brand-new Love Point Oyster Stout which includes oyster shells from one of the more than 150 farms in Maine that stand as sentinel stewards of our environment. Love Point Oysters will be available for purchase and live music from Sugar Hill, a New England-based acoustic duo playing old-time, Celtic, bluegrass, and early country, will be going from 630-830pm. Come enjoy fresh beer and oysters as well as local jams! mainebeer.com

7 pm: Festival After Hours. Freeport Oyster Bar. 43 Main St.

Sunday, June 25, 2023

6:30 am – 8 pm: Stop by Bow Street Market where local oysters, shuckers and accoutrements are available to purchase to enjoy at home! The wine, beer, and spirit department is not to be missed, housing one of Maine’s most varied and expertly curated selections. Of course, Maine products are prominently displayed in all three areas – wine, beer and liquor. bowstreetmarket.com, 79 Bow St.

10 am – 4 pm: Meet sea farmers & eat oysters, learn to shuck, shop with the vendors & food trucks, kids can make a craft or two to take home, and find out more about seaworthy organizations. L.L.Bean parking lots & adjacent locations

10 – 11 am: Shank Painters. The Shank Painters are a pirate-themed folk music trio based in Portland, Maine. The band’s repertoire consists of Shanties – a variety of mostly nautical classic folk songs with catchy sing-along refrains, beloved by children and rowdy drunks alike. These works are treasures of history, preserving the travails and spirit from centuries of seafaring culture. Bringing together accordion, voices, banjo, and guitar, the Shank Painters bring the past alive with their mixture of playful, rollicking, heartbreaking, and hilarious songs. FMI: https://www.shankpainters.com/  Free. L.L.Bean Discovery Park Stage

11 am: The Big Shuck. Professional Shucking Contest. L.L.Bean Discovery Park Stage

11 am – 4: pm Join us all weekend at the Lobster Cooker & Upper Deck Sports Pub during The Maine Oyster Festival! We’ll be serving up special menu items including tasty fried oysters and pouring a wide selection of beers in our garden patio! Just steps away from Festival grounds! thelobstercooker.com, 39 Main St.

11 am – 8 pm: Pop across the street from The Maine Oyster Festival to Linda Bean’s Maine Kitchen & Topside Tavern for discounted oysters on the half shell and special menu item Oysters Rockefeller! lindabeansperfectmaine.com, 88 Main St.

11 am – 9 pm: The Tuscan Brick Oven Bistro is offering special menu items all weekend including Brick Oven Oysters Rockefeller and Oyster Risotto! tuscanbrickovenbistro.com, 140 Main St.

12:30 – 2:30 pm:  Eileen Rose. Fresh off a European tour, Eileen Rose’s music is an authentic, glorious hybrid of honky heroine, Dylan-esque songstress, and road warrior diva. After building a critically acclaimed career in Europe, being musically compared to Patti Smith, Lucinda Williams, Emmylou Harris, Joni Mitchell, and Neil Young, Eileen Rose has returned to her New England roots. She and her husband live right here in Freeport, Maine! FMI: eileenrose.com Free. L.L.Bean Discovery Park Stage

3 – 4 pm: Shank Painters. See above. 

12 – 4 pm: Our Working Waterfront at Meetinghouse Arts: a gallery show celebrating our long history with the waterfront industry. Free. 40 Main St.

Dates: June 23 – 25, 2023

Location: Various Venues in Freeport, ME

There’s no admission fee for The Maine Oyster Festival! Plus, parking is free and plentiful in Freeport.

Click Here for more information.